Watchcase



Sept. 15, 1925. l 4 v 1,553,5'1Y

L. STRASSER WATCHCASE Filed Sept. 20. 1924 INVENTOR gono/.o 'Svwnsssk iA/gonmavs liatented Sept. l5, 1925.

LEOPOLD STRASSER,

0F NEVI YORK, N. Y.

Application filed September 20, 1924. Serial No. 738,762.

To all whomy t may concern Be it known that l, Licoronn 'runssna, acitizen` of the United States, residing at New York city, county of NewYork, and lState of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in lNatchcases, of which the following is a specification.

.lf'his invention relates to improvements in watches, and has particularreference to a wrist watch.

It has been customary to malte wrist watches of the more preciousmetals, such as gold, platinum, silver and the like, which materialsincrease the cost of production to such an extent that the purchasingprice to the public is oftentime prohibitive. In order to reduce thecost of wrist watches the manufacture thereof with base metals has alsobeen attempted. Heretofore in maliing watches of the more preciousmetals the top bezel for the upper section of the watch is usuallymounted upon the upper edge of said section and soldered thereto alongthe meeting edges. rFhis soldering operation leaves a clear unmarkedouter surface for the watch easing due to the inherent fusin qualitiesof the higher metals. In attempting to employ this same method of mount*ing the bezel when using base metals, which have a considerable lesserdegree of fusion, it has been found to be practically impossible toentirely obliterate the line formed by the meeting edges of the sectionof the top bezel, thereby marring the appearance of the watch case whencompleted.

An object of the present invention is to provide a. simple and improvedconstruction of watch case wherein the top bezel of the upper section isso mounted and secured in position that the edge of the bezel, which isusually engaged with the supporting section, will be invisible.

Another object is to mount the bezel within the supporting` section sothat only part of the bezel which is employed to form a setting forstones will be visible above said section.

A further object is to provide an improved mounting for a crystal byforming the top bezel with a groove for receiving the crystal and aflange which is capable of being bent over the edge of the crystal andthen milled or beaded to force the flange into secure engagement withthe face of the crystal to maintain the latter in position.`

'lhe above and other objects will appear more clearly from the followingdetailed description, when taken in connection with the accompanying'drawing, 'which illus trates a preferred embodiment of the inventiveidea.

Figure l is a top plan View of the watch case before the crystal ismounted in position;

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof, partly broken away and shown insection, the dotted lines indicating the bottom Sectio-11 of the case;

Figure 8 is a transverse section on the line 3 3 of Figure l with thecrystal in position and the dotted lines indicating the bottom sect-ionof the case; and

Figure 4c is a detail pla-n view of the upper section of the watch case.

Inasmuch as the invention has only to do with the construction of theupper section of the watch case, the other elements of said case areomitted from the illustration for purposes of clearness and simplicity.

The upper section 5 of the case, which is connected to the bottomsection by a hinge 6, is of substantially rectangular formation and madeof any suitable base metal, said section being provided at each endthereof with the handles 7 utilized for connecting the watch to a wristband in the usual manner.

Heretofore it has been customary to mount the top bezel on the upperedge of the section 5 and secure the two elements together by means ofsolder. Vith watches made of precious metals, this construction hasproved satisfactory because of the fact that the metals forming thesection and bezel are easily fused so that the meeting edges will beinvisible when the case is completed. However, with base metals, theelimination of the line formed by the meeting edges of the two elementshas not been easy of attainment and in fact it has been foundpractically impossible to render this line invisible. It is, therefore,proposed to so mount the bezel 8, which may also be of a base metal, inposition on the section 5 that the edge of the bezel engaging thesection will be entirely invisible. To this end, the bezel isconstructed so that its exterior dimension will be small enough topermit of the. bezel being inserted into the upper end ofthe section,as' clearly shown in Fignre 3, with a majorl portion of the bezelrecessed within? the-section and only such portion thereof projectingybeyond the section as is utilized for the setting of stones 9 or thelike. The surface in which said stones are set may contain any desireddesign, such as, for example, the one shown in Figure l, although it isto be expressly understood that the invention is in no Way limited tothe design shown.

After the bezel 8 has been properly positioned a small quantity ofsolder l() is applied to the outer edge of the inner surface of thebezel and theadjacent surface of the section 5 so as to secure 'thebezel in its proper position. This solder may be applied through thebottom of the section 5 in any well known manner.

By thus mounting the bezel 8 Within the section 5 it will be apparentthat the v-,atch case can be made of less depth than in the ordinarymethod of `manufacturing the case with the bezel mounted upon the upperedge of the section. Also the extension of the upper portion of thesection 5 to the surface of the bezel containing the design and in whichthe stones 9 are mounted affords considerable protection to the outeredge of the bezel, the material of which is generally softer than thatof which ,the section 5 is formed.

Vit-h the particular' design shown in Figures l and 2 having theextensions 11, which overhang the handles 7, the ends of the section '5are reduced, as indicated at l2, to form recesses for receiving saidextensions l1, as shown at the right of Figure 2.

The invention also provides improved means for mounting the crystal 13in position. Usually `these crystals are sprung or snapped into thebezel and this method of mounting the crystals oftentimes results in thesame being chipped or broken due to the force necessary to mount thesaine. rl`he present invention overcomes this diliiculty by forming anannular' groove M around the inner edge of the bezel 8 into which thecrystal 13 is fitted. The bezel is further provided with a flange l5surrounding said groove which, in its initial state, is bent to providefor Athe insertion of the crystal into the groove and which is capableof being folded or bent over upon the outer ace of the crystal, as shownin Figure 3, aiter the latter is in position. A suitable tool is thenemployed to mill the upper edoe of the flange 14, as indicated at 16, soas to compress the material of the flange and force the same into tightengagement with the crystal, thereby securely mounting the same inplace.

lVhat is claimed is:

l. In a watch, an upper section, a bezel mounted Within said section sothat a portion thereof including its lower edge is invisible When thebezel is in place, and moans applied to the lower edge of Athe bezel andthe inner edge of said section for securing said parts together.

2. In a Watch, an upper section, a bezel having an upper surface capableof having stones mounted therein, said bezel being adapted to be fittedWithin said upper section with an edge rof the upper section extendingto the outer edge of said surface, and means for securing said bezel tosaid section.

LEOPOLD STRASSER

